A blog chronicling my departure from urban life on the east coast to sheep farm and cheese making life on the west coast. Still recounting the meals I have eaten in my new setting, but with more sheep thrown into the mix.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Dinner c/o Bolete

For dinner, M., A., S. and I went to Bolete Restuarant. M. and A. have mentioned the restaurant the last few times I've seen them, or at least they did at Easter, and I was definitely intrigued by the restaurant's on-line menu.We sat in the outdoor area at the back of the building, which was quite nice for us...though one must walk around the building to use the restroom, which is a little inconvenient. M. had, if I recall correctly, the Diego (blueberry puree, cucumber water, fresh lime, sauza commemorotivo anejo tequila) as a starting cocktail. A. tried the Ghost of Mary (ketel one, spicy tomato water, tomolives).I had the Lehigh Lemonade (corona, ketel one vodka, house-made lemonade), which was pretty much an upgraded model of a drink I've always known as Skip and Go Naked. It was refreshing.Fresh and warm bread was delivered to our table.M. and I both ordered a rendition of the Bolete Asparagus Salad (egg, asparagus, periwinkles, and truffle vinagrette). I'm a sucker for any salad with a yolky element, and this was, on the whole, a good salad...though I didn't really pick up on the truffle element in the dressing at all, and the periwinkles were more chewy than particularly flavorful.A. tried the special appetizer: scallop sashimi. I tried it and was surprised, I was expecting to be weirded out by the texture or taste, but this was not the case. But one bite is different than a whole plate; I'm not sure if I would have liked it more and more or less and less.For my main course I ordered the Seared Dayboat Sea Scallops (lobster fettucini, English peas, pea tendrils, lobster butter, morel mushrooms and pea puree). The scallops were perfectly cooked and just delightful. The peas were definitely fresh and the pasta and its liquid was quite lovely. I'm thinking about it, and I think I would have liked the pasta even a little more if I had added just a touch of salt or pepper to it. Wah, wah.S. had the Maine Lobster Roll (lobster salad, crème fraiche, house made roll, pickled shallots, house-made potato chips).M. had a squash blossom tempura with mussels...I think. It was a special, so I can't refer to the menu to figure it out.A. had the salmon, which doesn't look anything like the description on-line...this is true for most all these dishes...because they use only the freshest ingredients, so things change depending on the availability of the product (whatever that might be).We concluded the meal with coffee and shared three desserts. The butterscotch pudding was surprising in its awesomeness.I didn't actually try the brioche component of the brioche donuts, but the blueberry ice cream that accompanied it was out of this world.The chocolate two ways (milk chocolate "pop," toasted hazelnuts, white chocolate pot de crème, grapefruit, candied grapefruit ) was fun.The company, the food and the night was delicious and lovely (I know that a night and company can't really be delicious...unless you're a cannibal or a night vampire). Serious thanks to S. for the dinner and all three just for being themselves.